An Unexpected Christmas
by Vettegirl
Summary: Amanda and her family are spending Christmas in a cabin when they get an unexpected guest.


Title: An unexpected Christmas   
Author: Vettegirl  
Summary: Amanda and her family go out to a cabin for Christmas when someone unexpectedly comes along.  
Rating: PG-13  
Time Period: Christmas time of season three.  
Author Note: I know that I am supposed to be writing my other story, but I had to write a Christmas story before Christmas was over with. But I got busy and missed my dead line. Well here it is anyways. Hope you all enjoy!   
Type: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, basically because the characters do act out of character a bit.  
Date: 1/04/02  
~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~SMK~*~  
  
  
It was December 23, two days before Christmas, and Amanda was getting ready to leave for a week to go to a cabin. It was Captain Kurt's cabin and he insisted that Dotty and her family take the cabin. He was going to his daughters' house for Christmas Eve and promised Dotty that his daughter, her family, and he would try to make it back for Christmas morning. He wanted Dotty to go with him, but he insisted that she stay with her family just incase he couldn't make back in time.   
  
Lee entered the Agency that morning with Amanda's present in his pocket. He really hopped that she would like it. He knew that she was not going to be there that day, but he was going to give it to her later that day.  
  
Before he left that day to go to Amanda's house. Billy called him into the office.   
  
"Billy what's up? I have some very important things to do."  
  
"I got a little job for you and no you don't," Lee looked at him. "Amanda called while you were running that errand, she said she was leaving early and wanted to talk to you before she left."  
  
How Billy knew that he was going to see Amanda was a mystery to him, but he felt so bad that he didn't get to give Amanda her present before she left, "Oh, okay Billy. What's this little assignment?"  
  
~*~SMK~*~  
  
The next day Lee was trudging through the snow in the middle of a big wooded area trying to find a cabin with his contact in it. Of course his cabin was way out of the way and had to hike to get to it. "Just my luck" Lee said to himself, "I get to be out here in the snow on Christmas Eve. How lovely is this?" but he kept trudging along.   
  
A little while later, with no cabin in sight anywhere, he heard a wolf howl. He didn't pay too much attention to it and kept on walking along.  
  
A few minutes later the howling got closer. Lee looked around and saw a wolf. Before Lee had time to react the wolf ran off towards him. Lee started to run. He was ahead of the wolf for a while, but after a very little while he started to get cold and the snow started to slow him down. When he looked around to see his surroundings he saw a cabin and thought that that had to be the contacts cabin. He ran straight for it. The wolf kept on getting closer and closer to Lee during this little chase, but Lee got to the cabin first. He ripped the door opened, ran in, and slammed it shut.   
  
The slamming of the door made the cabin occupier jump, "Lee?"  
  
Lee took a few deep breaths, "Amanda? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm here with my family for the week. What are you doing here?"  
  
Just then he heard another wolf howl, "Amanda where's your family?"  
  
"Mother's in the kitchen and the boys are outside getting wood for the fire."  
  
"Shit!!"  
  
"Lee what's wrong?"  
  
Lee grabbed the gun from his boot, "Amanda stay here."   
  
"Lee?" Without answering Lee left.   
  
Lee quietly moved around the cabin until he saw the two boys. A wolf howled again. Philip and Jaime looked at each other and then behind them. They saw the wolf. Lee spotted it too, he aimed to shoot it, but it was too far. The wolf ran off towards the boys. The boys didn't know what to do rather then to scream, "MOM!!!!!" The wolf was practically upon them and Lee shot it.  
  
The boys looked at the dead wolf in front of them and then at the man with the gun. Not knowing him they screamed again.  
  
Lee put his gun away and walked up to the boys, "I work with you're mom. You two okay?"  
  
The two boys nodded their heads. Just then they heard several howls.  
  
"Shit," Lee said under his breath. "Run!" The two boys shot off and Lee stayed behind them. Lee knowing that the packs of wolves were after them he said, "Guys, run faster!" The boys ran faster. As they neared the door to the cabin Lee screamed out, "Amanda open the door!" Amanda heard and did so. The three of them ran into the house and Lee screamed, "Close it. Close it." Amanda quickly closed it and ran to her boys. Lee looked out the window and saw the pack of wolves. He knew that they would soon leave knowing that they have been defeated.  
  
"What happened? Are you guys okay!?" Amanda was knelt down beside her boys making sure they were okay.   
  
"Mom. Were fine." Philip wined.  
  
Jaime started, "We're just lucky that Mr...." he looked at Lee looking for his name.  
  
"Call me Lee," Lee said.  
  
"We're just lucky that Lee was there to save us."  
  
"Yeah. Were did ya learn to shoot like that?" Philip chimed in.  
  
"Maybe I'll tell you sometime," Lee said.  
  
"Why don't you boys go into the kitchen and make some hot cocoa?" Amanda suggested.  
  
"Yeah!" the boys exclaimed and ran into the kitchen.  
  
When the boys were out of sight Amanda turned to Lee and said, "What was this all about?"  
  
"Well, I was supposed to meet this contact somewhere out here in a cabin out here. Well, the next thing I know there was this wolf that was following me and I couldn't shoot it because I only had a small gun in my boot and I couldn't get it. So I got lost, found this place with you in it, and now here I am." Amanda started to laugh. "Amanda this is not a laughing matter."  
  
"I'm not laughing at the situation," she said while laughing.  
  
"Then what are you laughing at?"  
  
Amanda caught her breath and said, "You rambled!"  
  
Lee smiled, but then he got serious and said, "And don't worry, I'm going to be out of your hair in just a little while."  
  
"Out of my hair?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"But Lee..." Amanda started off.  
  
"Shhh..." he cut her off and listened next to the door for any signs of the wolves. "As soon as those wolves go away I promise I'll get going."  
  
"But Lee..." Amanda started again.  
  
"I don't think I hear them anymore," and he looked out the window and didn't see them, so he opened the door. He didn't see anything, but he kept looking and that's when he saw the pack running towards the house again. He slammed the door, turned around, and slid down the door till he was sitting on the floor. "I'm sorry Amanda."   
  
Amanda went over to him and sat down, "For what?"  
  
"Here you are with your family having a wonderful Christmas and then I just show up."  
  
"Why Lee Stetson!" She exclaimed, "Just because you're here does not make my Christmas worse, it makes it better."  
  
"Really?" he looked at her and watched her stand up.  
  
"Yes," she held her hands out to him, he took them and stood up, "Christmas time is supposed to be spent with family *and* friends. Come on let's go get some hot-cocoa, and then we'll put up the Christmas tree." She walked into the kitchen and Lee followed.   
  
As Lee entered the kitchen a wave of nervousness washed over him and he had no clue why. He felt like a teenaged boy going to meet his girlfriends' parents for the very first time.  
  
"Mother, this is Lee Stetson, we work together at work."  
  
Lee walked over to Dotty, "Mrs. West. Amanda has said such wonderful things about you," he took her hand and placed a small kiss on her knuckles.   
  
Dotty whispered to Amanda, "A charmer and he's cute," Once again he felt like the teenage boy who's so excited to get his girlfriends mother approval.  
"So, Mr. Stetson..." Dotty continued.  
  
"Please call me Lee."  
  
"Okay," she smiled, "Lee, not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"  
  
"Well, unfortunately someone wanted to talk about making a certain documentary and he wanted to have me meet in his cabin. I apparently got lost and that's when the wolves found me. I luckily found this cabin and now here we are." Lee answered.  
  
Before another word could be said Amanda said, "Boys, why don't you take Lee into the other room and get ready to set up the Christmas tree. I'll make the hot-cocoa."  
  
The boys ran out of the kitchen and said, "Come on Lee! Let's go!" Lee reluctantly followed.  
  
Amanda was shocked to see that both Jaime and Philip had liked Lee so quickly. 'Probably has to deal with the whole life and death situation', Amanda thought.  
  
"Amanda," Dotty started, "Why is Lee still here?"  
  
"Mother! What kind of question is that?! He got lost, he has no family, so I asked him to stay. Is that so bad?"  
  
"Amanda. What aren't you telling me?" Dotty said in one of those 'stop lying and tell me the truth' type of voices.  
  
Amanda sighed, "There's just a pack of wolves outside our door that's all," she said quickly and started to leave the kitchen.  
  
"WHAT?!"   
  
Amanda quickly went over to her mother, "Mother please. I don't want the boys to worry. We are perfectly fine in the cabin."  
  
Dotty accepted that, gave her a soft smile and asked, "So, where have you been hiding him?" Amanda opened her mouth to say something when Dotty continued, "And why haven't you introduced him to us earlier? And how come you never told me you had a boyfriend?"  
  
"Mo-THER!" Amanda said a little too loudly.  
  
In the other room all three of them lifted their heads up.  
  
"That's what mom always do when grandma is pestering her about something," Jaime said.   
  
Lee laughed quietly knowing what Dotty must be pestering Amanda about.  
  
Amanda grew a little quieter, "Mother, we are *not* dating. We are just good friends and work together."   
  
"Okay Amanda, whatever you say," Dotty said, not believing a word that Amanda was saying.  
  
"UGH!" and Amanda left the kitchen.  
When she got into the other room she could hear Lee telling the boys all about his childhood.  
  
"So Lee, what where you're Christmas's like?"  
  
"They were basically all the same. My uncle was never around, so it was just Barney and I. My uncle didn't like Christmas too much, so we never decorated, or had a Christmas tree, and the dinners weren't that good either."  
  
"Did you ever have a good Christmas Memory?" Philip asked.  
  
Lee thought for a moment and then smiled, "Yeah I did. I was ten years old, and my Uncle and Barney was to be going to some kind of meeting and wouldn't be back till the day after Christmas. It was to be the first Christmas by-myself. It was Christmas Eve and I was sitting all alone in my room, when someone knocked at it. It was Barney and he had this HUGH tree. My uncle had to stay longer and sent Barney back. So that night we decorated the tree and he put this Santa cap on his head and read me "Twas the night before Christmas". The next day I got a water gun from him and considering that my Uncle didn't like "toys" that was the only time that I could use it. While eating in the mess hall we started this food fight, I can't remember who started it, or why it occurred, but there was food *all* over the place!" Lee stopped a second to laugh at the memory, "Everyone there started in and I used my water gun. When the head chef, Gertrude, came out she looked so mad. I got her with my water gun while Barney got her with a tray of food." Lee said while laughing a little, "Soon it died down and everyone was wet and full of food. The next day we helped clean up and to this day my Uncle doesn't know about it."  
  
When Lee finished his story the boys were laughing a little and exclaiming how awesome it would be to be in a food fight. He also laughed a little too.  
  
Amanda comes into the room, "Why Lee Stetson! What kind of ideas are you putting in their heads?" She said laughing a little.  
  
"What? Me? I did nothing," he said with a little smirk on his face.  
  
Dotty came in and said, "Alright! Who's ready to start stringing the popcorn?" It was Dotty's favorite part of decorating the tree, but everyone else hated to do it. No one moved. "Come on now! I already did most of it, we are almost done now."  
  
The two boys looked at one another and then at their mother. Amanda said, "Go on guys. I have to put on the lights anyways." The boys moaned, got up, and went into the kitchen to help their grandma.   
  
Amanda got out the lights and started to hang them onto the tree. Lee stood up and said, "Is there anything I can help out with?"  
  
"Yeah, it looks as though the last log went out, can you start another fire?" Amanda asked.  
  
"Sure can," Lee went over to the fireplace, grabbed another log, and placed it in the hearth. Lee thought for a moment and figured that this is exactly what he wanted in his; "...a wife and kids. The kids in the kitchen with their grandmother helping with things and Amanda putting up the tree." Lee shook his head to get the thought out of his mind. "The words 'Amanda' and 'his wife' does not go in the same sentence. Or does it?"  
Lee thought to himself and knew that he had a lot to think about when this holiday was over. He got free of his thought, struck a match, and lit the fireplace. "Ah there we go." Lee said as he got the fire bigger.   
  
Amanda turned to look at him, "Looks go Lee. Uh, you want to help me out here?"   
  
"Sure."   
  
After a little while they got the lights up.   
  
"What's next?" Lee asked.   
  
Amanda liked this new Lee. He was totally in a Christmassy mood. She wondered if it was a true mood, or just doing it for her benefit. She didn't know, and she really didn't care, she just liked it. But it truly looked as though Lee was enjoying himself. "Take the bulbs out of the boxes and making sure they got hooks on them."  
  
Lee picked one box up, put it on the couch, and started to take out the bulbs. He made sure to look at all the bulbs and even at times asked Amanda where she got them. Lee pulled out the next one and read it to himself, "Joe and Amanda King. First Christmas 1970." Lee went into a train of thoughts again and wished that it were his name instead of Joe's. He shook his head once again to get rid of that train of thought.   
  
Lee pulled out two bulbs with just the year engraved in them, "What are these?"  
  
"Ah, one of them is Phillips first Christmas year and the other is Jaime's. And look here's mine! Do you have a baby's first bulb?"  
  
"Yeah, it's at home. I don't have a tree to put it on, so it's just hanging up in my room."  
  
Amanda just nodded her head, for she understood.  
  
The boys and Dotty both came into the room holding the popcorn garland strings.   
  
"You ready to put the popcorn on mom?" Jaime asked.  
  
"Sure are!" She grabbed some string of the popcorn, handed some to Lee, and took some herself. Lee just stood there looking at her, he never hung popcorn before, "Just hang it over some branches," Amanda said as though she knew what Lee was thinking.  
  
Lee watched them put up the popcorn and Philip said, "Come on Lee!" Lee went over and helped put the popcorn on.   
  
A little while later they were done and the boys started to put the bulbs on the tree. Lee sat on the couch prepared to just watch them.   
  
Amanda who just finished putting up a bulb said, "Lee, come help."  
  
Lee shook his head, "This is a family thing. I'll just watch you guys."  
  
"Lee Stetson!" That was the third time she called him that. Lee smiled. "Get up here and help!"   
  
Lee got up and started to put on some bulbs that he thought had no real meaning to it.   
  
Soon Amanda went to him and said, "Come help me make some hot-cocoa." And Lee followed her into the kitchen.  
  
"Boy you guys really drink a lot of hot-cocoa around here don't ya?" Lee said with a chuckle.   
  
"It's cold. It helps keep us warm."  
  
Lee laughed a little and said, "I really want to thank you."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For making this one of my most enjoyable and best Christmas of my life."  
  
"You have a lot of Christmas's left Lee, so they yet to be better." She smiled and took the tray into the other room.  
  
"As long as they are with you they will be," he said quietly and shocked himself that he said that.  
  
When she entered the boys exclaimed, "We're done mom! All we need now is the star!!"   
  
Dotty handed her the star, for it was always her job to put the star on last, but not this year. She turned around and handed it to Lee.   
  
"What?" he asked not knowing what she was doing.  
  
"You put it on."  
  
"What? Me? No. It's okay Amanda, you do it."  
  
"No, Lee please do it," and Amanda gave him a face that he just couldn't say no to. He took the star, stood up on the stepping ladder and put it on the top.  
  
"A little more to the left," Dotty said. So Lee moved it.  
  
"Wait to much to the left! Just a tad to the right!" Amanda said. So Lee moved it again.  
  
"PERFECT!" Amanda and Dotty yelled out. Lee climbed off the ladder and stood back. Amanda took the plug and handed it to Lee. "Plug her in Lee." Amanda stood next to her boys and they started a drum roll. Lee laughed and plugged the tree in. The tree lit up and everyone "ooohhh"ed and "Ahhhhh"ed.   
  
Lee went to stand next to Amanda and looked at the tree too, "It looks really good." Amanda just smiled.   
  
"Okay, it's time for our traditional reading and then off to bed!" Amanda said.   
  
Dotty went to go retrieve the book and Jaime followed her.   
  
"Grandma?" Jaime started.  
  
"Yes Jaime."  
  
"Ah, would you mind if Lee read it instead this year?"  
  
Dotty smiled, "No, I would not mind. In fact I was going to ask him myself. But I think it'll come better coming from you." She handed Jaime the book and the Santa hat and Jaime went back into the living room.  
  
Lee was in a little conversation with Phillip and Amanda when Jaime came over to them.  
  
"Lee?" Lee looked up, "Uh, would you read the book this year?" Lee looked surprised and so did Amanda.   
  
Amanda said to herself, "Oh dear, the boys are getting to close to him."  
  
"You want me to read it?"  
  
"Yeah!" Jaime and Philip both answered.   
  
Lee looked at Amanda, who had an unclear look on her face, but she nodded.   
  
"Okay." Jaime handed him the book, "Twas the night before Christmas!" Lee exclaimed! Then Philip handed him the Santa hat. "And a Santa hat," Lee said. Amanda looked at him and saw how happy he was. Lee put the hat on. The boys sat on the floor, Dotty sat in another chair, and Amanda was still sitting next to Lee.   
  
Lee started the book, "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house..."  
  
  
Lee finished the book and Amanda said, "Okay boys off to bed!"  
  
"Aww MOM!!" The boys' whined!  
  
"Come on the sooner you guys go to sleep the sooner Christmas will get here," Lee said.   
  
"Yeah!" They leaped onto Lee and Lee gave out a little grunt, not prepared for the hug. The boys then gave Amanda and Dotty a kiss on the check and ran off to their rooms.   
  
Dotty stood up and yawned, "Well, I guess I am going to bed now."  
  
"Um... talking about bed, mother what are we going to do with Lee?"  
  
"Good question." Dotty said.  
  
"Nope. Easy question actually. I'll sleep on the couch," Lee said.  
  
"No!" Dotty said.  
  
"What?" Lee asked.  
  
"You'll seriously freeze." Dotty said, "Once the fire goes out it gets really cold in here. The rooms are the only rooms that are lined with electric heat." She said lying.  
  
Amanda gave her mother a weird look, "What?"  
  
"It true. Kurt told me so. It's a weird Cabin."  
  
Amanda shrugged, "Whatever. Then what are we going to put Lee?"  
  
"You and me will switch beds, you get the King sized one, and this way you two can share a bed and have lots of room."  
  
Amanda's mouth opened up, but Lee beat her to it, "That's not necessary. I'll just sleep on the floor of the boys room."  
  
"Oh my gosh! No! These floors are so awful and hard! You'll never get a good night's rest!"  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Amanda put her hand on her forehead.  
  
"Well, what do you think we should do Amanda?" Dotty asked.  
  
For once Amanda had no answer. She had to admit that under any other circumstances she wouldn't object, but this is not a case, her family was there, "Mother I agree that this is the best arrangement, but what about the boys?"  
  
Dotty didn't think of that, didn't think of what the boys would think if they saw their mom and Lee in the same bed, "Good question Amanda."  
  
The two started to talk to each other as though Lee wasn't there. He thought to himself, "This is what Amanda must feel like half the time."  
  
"I got an idea," No one heard him. "Wait a second!" Still no one heard him. So he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.   
  
Amanda and Dotty both stopped talking and said, "What?"  
  
"I have an idea," the two of them stood there waiting for his idea, "I'll sleep on one side of the bed, you sleep on the other side, and... what time do the boys get up?"   
  
"About 4:30."  
  
"4:30?!" Amanda nodded, "And then at 4 I'll get up and sit on the floor and make it look like that's where I slept."  
  
"Excellent idea!" Dotty exclaimed and turned to Amanda.  
  
"Fine," she tried really hard to make it look as though she really did except it, but Lee knew that there was something really wrong, "I'm going to go check in on the boys." And walked out of the room.  
  
"Come with me Lee and we'll find something of Kurt's that'll fit you." Dotty lead the way and Lee followed.  
  
Amanda went into the boys' room and heard they were talking about something. She listened in on them.  
  
"Man, Lee is SO awesome!" Philip said.  
  
"Yeah he is," Jaime agreed, "Do you think he'll stick to his promise?"   
  
"I don't know. I hope so," Philip said, "It's hard to trust someone we just met."  
  
"Yeah, we can't even trust Dad to keep his promises."  
  
Amanda stood their wondering what Lee promised to the boys. She waited a few more seconds and then entered.  
  
"You guys ready for bed?" Amanda asked.  
  
"Yup sure are mom."  
  
Amanda kissed them both on the head, said 'good-night', and left before they had the chance to say anything about Lee.  
  
She entered her room and didn't see Lee, so she took out her nightgown. Someone knocked on the door and Dotty came in, "Night honey."  
  
Amanda gave her mother a weak smile and said, "Good-night mother." Dotty left and Amanda quickly changed and climbed into bed. She tried to fall asleep before Lee came in, but all she could was quietly cry.   
  
Lee came in with a pair of sweats on and a white t-shirt that were way too big for him. He noticed Amanda already sleeping, so he quietly slipped into his side of the bed, and got comfortable. He laid there a little while just watching Amanda and notice her shaking a little. "Must be cold," he said to himself. He said a quiet goodnight to Amanda. And turned her head into her pillow and let out a small sob.   
  
This did not go unnoticed by Lee, "Amanda?" he called out. Amanda let out a small sob.  
  
"Amanda, everything okay?"  
  
"Everything is fine Lee. Go to bed," she said holding her tears back.  
  
"No, everything is not okay. What's the matter?" she didn't answer. He moved over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.   
  
"Don't touch me," She said and got out of bed.  
  
"Well, at least we narrowed it down a little. You're mad at me," Lee said.  
  
Amanda didn't acknowledge it, she kept her back to him and asked, "What the heck did you promise my boys?!"   
  
"Oh that? I promised them I take them to a baseball game one day."   
  
"Why the *hell* did you do that?!"   
  
Lee was shocked that she swore and asked, "Why what's wrong with it?"  
  
"It's a pie promise Lee. A pie promise!"   
  
"A what?" Lee asked being confused.  
  
"It's a promise that easily breaks," Amanda told him.  
  
Lee shook his head, "Amanda can you back up a little bit and tell me what's wrong? Please."   
  
Amanda sighed and sat down at the foot of the bed. She breathed deep and started. "I never thought that my boys would like you so easily. They never like anyone this quickly, rather it be my boyfriend, an uncle, or whatever," Amanda took another deep breath ready to say this part quickly, "And now they got their hopes all up that they can depend on you, that you'll be there when they need you," She looked Lee in the eyes and Lee gave her a certain look, "Don't look at me like that Stetson! Never has anyone made you to settle down and I am not ready to believe that my two boys can! And then you're going to break promises and then the boys won't like you anymore and then they'll probably be mad at me at how I can still be friends with you. God, the boys are ready to have you over every weekend and mother's starting to make our wedding plans," Lee's eyes went wide at that comment, "Yeah. Mother's ready to make you a part of the family whether you like it or not." At that Amanda put her head in her hands and started to cry.   
  
Lee moved closer to her and gently gathered her into his arms. He placed his head on top of hers and held her close. He started to speak quietly, "I'm sorry I should of thought about all that," Amanda cried harder, "But I'm not going to break my promises to those boys." Amanda looked up to him, "I know I just met them officially today, but I've been watching the boys grow up for the past three years... from outside your window of course." Amanda laughed a little at that, "Amanda, I believe that I was brought here by fate. The whole life and death situation was a wake up call for me to take the precious things in my life and hold them close," he held Amanda closer at that. Amanda wrapped her arms around him, "And about your mother, she only wants what's best for you. You should feel lucky to have her."  
  
"I do feel lucky and I am *very* lucky to have you too."  
  
"No, I'm the lucky one," Lee said softly.   
  
They climbed back into bed and laid just a few inches apart, watching each other until they fell asleep.  
  
~*~SMK~*~  
  
Early Christmas Eve morning...  
  
Lee woke up at 4 o'clock. He thought he had a little bit of time, so he just looked at Amanda and breathed in her scent. "She smells like Vanilla" he said to himself. He was still a little tired and ready to fall back asleep when he heard the heavy steps of feet running to the room. He had no time to go through with his plans, so he slid over to his side of the bed, put on the bedside lamp, and pulled the magazine off the side table. He just had enough time when the boys threw the door opened and ran towards the bed. They jumped onto the bed and started to jump up and down screaming, "Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!!"   
  
Lee started to laugh as he saw Amanda sit up in bed and grabbed at her sons, "What are you guys doing up so early?"   
  
"We couldn't sleep no longer ma!" Jaime said.  
  
"We want to go open presents!" Philip exclaimed.  
  
Lee just looked at them and watched the family moment.   
  
"Lee, what you reading?" Amanda asked.  
  
"A magazine," he answered.  
  
The two boys started to laugh. "Boys go wake Grandma up and we'll meet you in the front room." The boys ran off the bed and left the room laughing.  
  
Lee looked confused, "What was so funny?"  
  
"I don't know. Probably the fact that your reading a magazine that says in big letters, "101 ways to light his fire." And started to laugh.  
  
Lee looked at the front of the magazine and gasped, "Amanda! What are you reading!?"  
  
Amanda blushed a little, laughed, and then said, "Come on. Let's go. The boys aren't that patient."  
  
She got out of bed, threw on her robe and slippers and went into the front room.  
  
The boys where sitting on the floor ready to open presents.   
  
"Okay, we're here. Go ahead."  
  
The boys ripped the paper opened and looked at their presents. Dotty came in and brought in some coffee for the two of them.  
  
"Thank you," Lee said.  
  
The boys gave their presents to Amanda and Dotty, while Lee sat there having fun just watching them all.   
  
"What's this?" Philip asked pulling out a package. "It doesn't have a name on it."  
  
Amanda took it from them, "This one is for Lee."  
  
"For me?" He asked.  
  
"For you." And handed him the present. At his first look at it he burst out laughing.  
"What's so funny?" Dotty asked.  
  
"It's lined with Scarecrow's." Dotty didn't understand.  
  
"It's a little inside joke mother." Amanda said.  
  
"Oh okay."  
  
"Come on Lee open it up!" Philip said.  
  
"Yeah Lee!" Jaime chimed in.  
  
"Wait a minute. I'll be right back." He put his present on the couch and ran into the other room. He took a small package out of his jacket pocket and ran into the other room again.  
  
He sat back down and said, "Here it's for you." And handed Amanda the package to Amanda.   
  
Amanda didn't ask why he had it with him she just took it and said, "Thanks." She had a feeling that Lee waited for her to open the package, so she did. She opened it and gasped, putting her hand to her chest she said, "Lee it's beautiful!" She took it out and all eyes where on it. It was a necklace with a heart pendent with a small diamond on it.  
  
"Wow." Philip said.  
  
Dotty sat next to Amanda and whispered very quietly in her ear, "That's a real diamond Amanda."  
  
Amanda didn't say anything. She turned to Lee and said, "Put it on me?" Lee took the necklace and put it on her. Amanda touched it and said, "Thank you."  
  
Lee smiled and Jaime said, "Come on Lee open up your present!"  
  
Lee took his present and opened it up. He opened the box and saw a black shirt and didn't really know what to say.  
  
"Take it out, silly." Amanda said.   
  
Lee took the shirt out and looked on the front and back. Lee started to laugh and said, "Oh this is great! I love it!"  
  
"What is it?" Dotty and the boys said.  
  
Lee turned the shirt around and on the back in white letters it said, "Scarecrow"  
  
"Let me guess. Part of the inside joke." Dotty said.  
  
"Uh, yeah," Lee said. He turned to Amanda and said, "Thank you. I really like it. Where did you find it?"  
  
Amanda smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it." She paused for a moment and said, "There's a new store in the mall called "The wizard of Oz store"" Lee burst out laughing and so did Amanda.   
  
"Now it's my turn to give Lee a gift!" Dotty exclaimed.  
  
"Dotty, it's okay. You didn't have to," Dotty placed mistletoe above Lee and Amanda's head, "You really shouldn't have."  
  
Amanda looked up, saw it and sighed deeply, "Come on Lee give her a kiss," Dotty persisted. Amanda closed her eyes and prayed that her mother was *not* doing this to her.   
  
Lee looked from Dotty then to the boys, almost as in trying to get their approval. After find it he gently laid a sweet kiss on Amanda's lips. It was Amanda's bold actions that pulled Lee into a deeper kiss.   
  
"That's my girl," Dotty said getting up and sitting in her chair again.   
  
After a few seconds the two didn't pull away and Dotty had to "cough" three times before the two broke apart.   
  
The boys didn't make a comment; they just went back to their presents.   
  
Amanda leaned against Lee, putting her head on his chest. Lee held her close murmured something into her hair. Amanda heard the soft mummer and she could swear it sounded something like 'I love you'. She wasn't sure, but the only thing that she was sure of was that she enjoyed this; being in Lee's arms, with her family all around, and no longer having to keep any secrets. She just smiled and squeezed Lee a little tighter.   
  
  
The End. 


End file.
